Hot Shots : Justin James King
Artist Statement
One's relationship to place, context and meaning are always in flux and fleeting. The American landscape as a whole has been created through history, mythology and metaphor. Perhaps all we see when we stand in front of the landscape are archetypes: preconceived notions and pre-experienced views. Landscape is a manifestation of culture. Our perception grows out of how we have seen the landscape represented historically and in popular culture.
Biography
Justin James King was born in the historic town of Saratoga Springs, New York. From an early age he became interested in the landscape, particularly its history and connotations. Justin studied sculpture at The School of The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, but in 2006 while living in San Francisco, made a strict transition to large format photography. In 2007, he had his first showing of photography at Southern Exposure Gallery and Intersection for the Arts Gallery in San Francisco. Since then his work has been shown at New Space Center for Photography in Portland, Oregon (2008), The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colorado (2008), VRT in Brussels, Belgium (2009), and at The Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, Massachusetts (2009), where he was also the recipient of the Arthur Griffin Legacy Award (2009). In May 2009, Justin was awarded Best Personal Work as a Series in the New York Photography Awards. He was a 2009 Second Edition Hot Shot and will be exhibiting his work at Jen Bekman Gallery in 2010.